There's an absolutely laughable article in The Athletic today by Jack Pitt-Brooke suggesting that poor little Barcelona are are in their current dire straits because nasty old City and PSG, with their greater resources, have decided to ape them and have done it considerably better. Thus, City have recruited key ex-Barca personnel in the executive and management structure, then imitated the Catalan club, while PSG took two of their star players.
He ignores the fact that we're in the era of FFP and Barca have a bigger budget than either us or PSG. He ignores the fact that all the execs employed by City would have willingly stayed at Barca but were shown the door. He ignores they trousered £198 million for Neymar and lost Messi only when they couldn't afford to pay him within the scope of La Liga financial rules. Their woes are entirely self-inflicted, and the take in that article is utterly dreadful.
It's my fault to some degree. I did unsubscribe after my first year, paid for upfront, but allowed myself to be lured back in by an offer of £1 per month. But I looked at it so rarely these days that it's overpriced even at that discounted rate. Looking at Jack's article this morning reminded me why I hardly ever bother with it any longer.
